Safety testing

If a treatment works after trying it in animals, it might be time to introduce it to human beings, but first the medicine must be tested for safety. The law is that every new medicine is tested on two species of animals before it is used on people. This is to minimise the risk of dangerous side effects like raised blood pressure or liver failure.

Most of these tests involve giving a mouse or rat a dose of the medicine and then taking blood and urine samples. It is very important that the animal suffers as little as possible because that can affect the results of the tests. Specially trained technologists watch over the animals and make sure they are well treated and are kept as comfortable as possible.

 

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